In this little-known work by Voltaire (1694-1778)-now available in
English for the first time- the famous French philosophe and satirist
presents a wide-ranging and acerbic survey of religion throughout the
world. Written toward the end of his life in 1769, the work was penned
in the same decade as some of his more famous works-the Philosophical
Dictionary, Questions on Miracles, and Lord Bolingbroke's Important
Examination-all of which questioned the basic tenets of
Christianity.Voltaire called himself a deist and thus he professed
belief in a supreme deity. But he was always sharply critical of
institutional Christianity, especially its superstitions, the hypocrisy
of its clergy, and its abuse of political power. Both his deism and his
critical attitude toward Christianity are manifest in God and Human
Beings, which is, in effect, one of the first works of comparative
religion. Comparing Christianity to the more ancient belief systems of
the Jews, Hindus, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Babylonians,
Phoenicians, and Arabs, he notes a common tendency to worship one
supreme god, despite the host of subordinate deities in many of these
religions. He also critiques the many superstitions and slavish rituals
in religion generally, but he emphasizes that in this respect
Christianity is no better than other faiths. Thus, the clergy's claim
that Christianity is God's supreme revelation to humanity has no basis
from an objective perspective. This first English translation of a
classic critique of religion includes an introduction by writer,
scholar, and editor S. T. Joshi, who wrote the article on Voltaire in
The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief (edited by Tom Flynn). Anticipating
many of the themes of the later Higher Criticism and rationalist
critiques of religion, this incisive, witty treatise by the great French
skeptic will be a welcome addition to the libraries of anyone with an
interest in the philosophy of religion, intellectual history, or the
Enlightenment.
